Favorite Schools

Favorite Teams

Hurricane Sandy shows NJ needs a new way to pay for disaster relief: Sen. Robert Singer

hurricane sandy victims anna yurgelonis.JPG

Anna Yurgelonis looks over the devastation of what was her house located on Brook Avenue in Union Beach after Hurricane Sandy. The house was complete destroyed and partially taken back out to sea.
(Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-Ledger)

I have lived at the New Jersey Shore for 40 years. Like my neighbors, I was shocked by the devastation that Hurricane Sandy caused. We were unprepared in so many ways, and the people of New Jersey are still in the process of a long recovery. Now, with Sandy still large in our thoughts, we must continue the hard work of recovery, but also start making changes that will leave our communities better protected against extreme weather. This need has never been so great.

Like many New Jerseyans, a scientist doesn’t need to tell me what I already know; we’re seeing intense and more frequent storms, and unfortunately greater catastrophes. In fact, New Jersey has received 11 presidential disaster declarations in the past nine years.

We will be hit again, and the question is: What are we doing to protect our communities, businesses and basic infrastructure such as roads, bridges, electric lines, sewage and drinking water systems? We have failed this test so far and have a lot of hard work to do now for the future.

According to New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection commissioner, rebuilding and fortifying public facilities, as well as water, sewer and flood-control systems, will cost an additional $14 billion. This huge price tag is shared by communities across America, and will require significant federal intervention and financial support.

It is time for a national dedicated fund to protect communities against extreme weather. This fund should mirror another federally dedicated fund, the Highway Trust Fund, which has successfully financed highway and public transportation projects for decades.

A dedicated fund would be in sharp contrast to the shenanigans that played out in Congress after Sandy when we waited for 91 days before emergency legislation was signed into law. And, even with the approval for our recovery money, there’s not enough to go around.

As a legislator, I can also tell you that a dedicated fund is a much better approach to prioritize spending than the alternative of leaving it to Congress’ general appropriation process, let alone an emergency spending process.

It’s never easy to dedicate funds for anything, and I have spent 20 years in the Legislature working to keep taxes low. However, the damage to residents of Toms River alone translates into a loss of $2 billion to the property tax ratable base. Because many local governments have doubled their borrowing to respond to Sandy, it is clear that we should not be asking property taxpayers to shoulder the burden of storm preparedness. No one likes to talk about taxes or user fees, but if we don’t find new money, it’s not going to happen. Americans can no longer be subject to congressional whims.

Let’s start this discussion to find a solution — how and where we could generate revenues, what agency would oversee the distribution of funds, who would be eligible for aid.

Investing in storm preparedness makes sense. Every dollar spent on prevention saves $9 to $13 in emergency and disaster relief efforts in the future. Congress spent $60 billion on relief after Sandy — money that was added to our already overwhelming national debt. If we had invested more wisely, our communities, homeowners, businesses and local governments would have been spared the enormous price we have all paid, and we would have saved taxpayers money as well.

In short, we need to challenge conventional wisdom and start doing things differently. This is not a Republican or Democrat issue, this is a people issue.